Toothbrush



Jan. 27,1970 J. M. EANNARINO ET AL 3,491,396

TOOTHBRUSH Filed Jan. 12, 1966 INVENTORS United States Patent 3,491,396 TOOTHBRUSH Joseph M. Eannarino, 610 Highland Ave., and Michael S. Granieri, Jr., 1805 N. James St., both of Rome, N.Y. 13440 Filed Jan. 12, 1966, Ser. No. 520,201 Int. Cl. A46b 1/00; A61h 13/00 US. Cl. 15-104.94 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates generally to toothbrushes, and is particularly directed toward a novel economy toothbrush, using multicellular resilient brush pads, that are structurally strong and yet of very low cost to produce that it becomes practical to use the toothbrush a large number of times or, at the users option, be disposed of after initial use.

To date, all of the disposable or economy toothbrushes have had bristle type brush structures which do not lend themselves to low cost, rapid production methods. Various designs of disposable brushes that have fixed handles or must be attached to the finger have been suggested in the past. These have never acquired commercial importance because of structural weaknesses, inconvenience, non-hygienic method (in case of finger held brush), and no significant reduction in production cost over conventional toothbrushes.

To be commercially acceptable, a disposable or economy toothbrush must have good structural properties to maintain good teeth cleaning and gum massaging action. It must be attractive, hygienic, be designed so it could contain its own dentifrice, and be cheaper to produce than conventional bristly type toothbrushes.

With the foregoing and other considerations in view, it can be stated that the principal object of this present invention is to provide an extremely low cost toothbrush that, from an economical standpoint, may be used a number of times or even disposed of after initial use.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a toothbrush that can be produced and packaged at a significantly lower cost than a permanent conventional toothbrush.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a toothbrush that will retain its structural integrity even after many uses.

A further important object of the invention is to provide a toothbrush that can be brought into contact with teeth and gums to provide efiective cleaning and safe but firm massaging action.

Still another important object of the invention is to provide a toothbrush that can readily take on moisture and a dentifrice during prepackaging.

A still further important object of this invention is to provide a completely self-contained toothbrush set that can be readily dispensed by coin machines and can be used conveniently by auto, air, bus, train, boat and space vehicle travellers.

A still further important object of this invention is to provide a multicellular resilient structure to be used in place of the bristles of conventional toothbrushes.

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A still further important object of this invention is to provide a low cost, simple means for varying the density of the brushing structure so as to provide a stiff, medium, or light brushing action.

A still further important object of this invention is to provide a simple and hygienic means for massaging the gums.

Other objects and the advantages of the toothbrush will become apparent from the following detailed description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate representative embodiments of the invention for purpose of disclosure.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of one possible embodiment of the economy toothbrush in its simplest form according to the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the economy toothbrush with a brush density adjustment according to the present invention;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of still another embodiment of the economy toothbrush with a disappearing gum massager, shown in a cut-a-way view, accord ing to the present invention;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of still another embodiment of the economy toothbrush which has bristles embedded in the multicellular resilient pad according to the present invention.

Having specific reference now to the drawings, and with particular reference to FIGURES 1 through 4, numeral 1 indicates the brush handle of the toothbrush, which can be made of wood or any other rigid, low cost material such as plastic, and the brush head 2, which is a continuation of the brush handle 1, and in carrying out the invention, I provide a rectangular pad 3, which is a multicellular resilient pad made of polyurethane or latex rubber or like plastics, that for effective cleaning action can be shaped in a variety of ways such as the sawtooth pattern 4 which contains a dentifrice 5 in the voids 6.

Referring to FIGURE 2, the rectangular pad 3 contains many cells 7, which allows for easy absorption and retention of moisture for prepackaging purposes and may also contain when desired a liquid dentifrice 5 in voids 6. A fixed clamp 8 is attached and integral to the end of brushhead 2 which is in communication with one end of the rectangular pad 3 and an adjustable clamp 9 which is attached to brush handle 1 by means of clutch pointer 11 and in communication with the opposite end of rectangular pad 3. To adjust the density of the rectangular pad 3 it is necessary to push adjustable clamp 9 along the slot 10. The desired density and hence strong, medium or light brushing action can be selected and once selected can be held in place by the friction clutching action of clutch pointer 11 acting to hold clamp 9 against the brush handle 1.

FIGURE 3 shows a cut-a-way view of one end of rectangular pad 3 where gum massager 12, which can be made of rubber or resilient plastic, is normally contained in the cavity 13 and whose bottom normally rests on a smaller opening 14. After brushing the teeth, the user can push, by means of his finger through opening 14, the gum massager 12 so that it will protrude above the surface of saw-tooth pattern 4 and be held in position by the friction lock action of cavity 13.

FIGURE 4 shows a variation of the invention where vigorous brushing is required in addition to the gentle action of the multicellular resilient pad. In this case, bristles 15 are embedded in the rectangular pad 3, in an even or randomly spaced manner, during the plastic or rubber forming process. The surface ends of bristles 15 are even with the surface of saw-tooth pattern 4. When the teeth are brushed under moderate pressure the bristles will protrude out from the surface of saw-tooth pattern 4 so as to give the desired vigorous brushing action.

Vvhat is claimed is:

1. A toothbrush of the character described comprising a solid handle and headpart and a non-expanding multiceiiular resilient brushpad composed of polyurethane, said brushpad having a brushing surface with a substantially saw-tooth pattern thereon and having an opposite external surface juxtaposed with and securely and integrally attached toa mating surface of said headpart.

2. A toothbrush as defined in claim 1 wherein the cells of said brushpad contain a moistening agent.

3. A toothbrush as defined in claim 1 wherein the brushpad includes an inverted conical gum massage! adapted tobe finger-projected from the brushing surface when gum massage is required and adapted to recede below the brushing surface when it is desired to brush the teeth.

4. A toothbrush of the character described comprising a solid handle and headpart, with a non-expanding multicellular resilient brushpad securely attached to the headpart and with a variable clamp for communicating variable pressure to the ends of said brushpad for varying its density and hence providing variation in brushing action, said clamp having relatively movable elements supported on said handle and engaging opposite ends of said brushpad.

5. A toothbrush as defined in claim 4 wherein said brushpad has a substantially saw-tooth pattern on its brushing surface.

6. A toothbrush as defined in claim 4 wherein one of said clamp elements is fixed to one end of said headpart and the other is slidable along said handle at the opposite end of said headpart and is adapted to be fixed in different positions.

7. A toothbrush as defined in claim 4 wherein said brushpad has bristles embedded therein and has a dentifrice and moistening agent self-contained in the cells thereof.

8. A toothbrush of the character described comprising a solid handle and headpart, with a non-expanding multicellular resilient brushpad securely attached to and integral with the headpart, said brushpad having a substantially saw-tooth pattern on its brushing surface, said brushpad having bristles embedded internally in the multicellular material thereof with bristle end surfaces substantially even with the surface of the saw-tooth pattern and adapted to protrude therefrom when brushing pressure is applied to the brushpad.

9. A toothbrush of the character described comprising a solid handle and headpart, with a non-expanding multicellular brushpad securely and integrally attached to the headpart, the cells of said pad containing a moistening agent, and the brushpad having a substantially sawtooth pattern on its brushing surface defining a series of i surface voids containing a separate dentifrice which may be utilized in addition to said'moistening agent in brushing the teeth.

10. A toothbrush as defined in claim 9 wherein the brushpad is composed of polyurethane.

11. A toothbrush as defined in claim 9 wherein the density of said brushpad is varied by a clamp having relatively movable clamp elements supported upon said handle and engaging ends of the brushpad.

12. A toothbrush as defined in claim 9 wherein said brushpad contains a disappearing gum massager.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS EDWARD L. ROBERTS, Primary Examiner c1. X.R. 12s 52; 15-167 

